Author- Amitav Ghosh
Publisher- Penguin India
Genre- Non-fiction
Year- 2010
Pages-380 pages
Format- Paperback
Rating- 4/5 stars
"The Imam and the Indian" is a compilation of 19 prose peices(essays and articles) written by Amitav Ghosh. I was introduced to Ghosh's work in school (The Ghosts of Mrs Gandhi) and read a few of his fictional works while working on a research paper on Ibis Trilogy in my masters.But the idea of reading his non-fictional works never dawned upon me until last year when I came across this book at The Purulia Book Fair. I was quite surprised to realize the fact that though much work has been done on Amitav Ghosh's fictional works but there is a few reviews on his non-fictional works. So I decided to give it a try and I am happy to tell you that I am not at all disappointed.
The thing I liked the most about these prose pieces is the way it helps us map the transition of the author's thought process. I personally believe that the best way to understand an author's psyche is to go through the essays and articles written by the author and then connects them with the ideas developed in the fictional works and one can get the complete picture.For instance, the title piece, "The Imam and the Indian" was written in 1986 in between the publication of his first novel "The Circle of Reason" and the second "The Shadow Lines". Infact, Ghosh himself acknowledged that this particular prose-piece helped him developed the idea for his third book "In an Antique Land". Similarly, "Tibetan Dinner" and "Four Corners" were written in 1988 in between the publication of "The Shadow Lines" and "In an Antique Land" while "The Ghosts of Mrs.Gandhi" was written in the period between "The Calcutta Cromosome" and "The Glass Palace".So you can understand what I am trying to say.
He has covered a huge range of topics through his essays and articles and shared his views and opinion on issues such as Indian Diaspora (The Diaspora in Indian Culture), International Relations(Petrolification, The relations of Envy in an Egyptian Village), World Peace (The Global Reservation: Notes towards an Ethnography of International Peacekeeping), Labour and World Economy( Categories of Labour and the Orientation of the Fellah Economy), Indian History(Empire and Soul: A Review of Baburnama) etc. The Essays "The Ghosts of Mrs.Gandhi", "The Imam and the Indian", "Tibetan Dinner" and "An Egyptian in Baghdad" are based on his real-life experiences.
This is an excellent book and I recommend it to those who wants to go for a detailed study of Amitav Ghosh's works.There are a few references and ideas in some of the essays which a reader may find tough to comprehend if he/she don't have any prior familiarity with Ghosh's works and ideas.
I give this book 4 stars.
Happy Reading
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